Oregon Public Broadcasting

The Portland Veterans Administration Medical Center opened a new clinic in West Linn Monday. Kristian Foden-Vencil reports.

Over the last decade, the Portland VA has worked to ring the area with clinics -- freeing up space at its main hospital on Pill Hill.

Medical center director, David Stockwell, says the West Linn clinic is the final clinic of five in the Portland area to be opened -- and it's expected to serve about 7,000 people.

David Stockwell: "So it's a moving of services closer to where the veterans live and the ability to backfill the space on our medical center campus with higher level specialty care."

The old clinic on Pill Hill will now undergo extensive remodeling. One of the main aims is to open a new clinic exclusively for female veterans.

Currently, about six percent of VA patients are women. But that's expected to increase as younger veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan grow older and need more attention.